Implications of academic literacies research for knowledge making and curriculum design

This article explores the issue of what academic literacies research can bring to the study of knowledge and curriculum in higher education from a theoretical perspective and by means of illustrations from a work in progress academic literacies research project in the natural sciences. It argues that reading and writing are central to the process of learning in any discipline and that discipline specialists need to take this into consideration when planning their curricula. It also considers what knowledge means in the context of academic literacies research and how this conception of knowledge may differ from the knowledge structures researchers’ concern with knowledge as an object with its own properties. It comes to the conclusion that academic literacies research with its ethnographic-type exploration of social practice and theorisations of knowledge in the knowledge structures research can complement one another because each field of enquiry brings a lens that the other lacks.     

Achieving equivalence: a transnational curriculum design framework

Transnational education is now essential to university international development strategies. As a result, tertiary educators are expected to engage with the complexities of diverse cultural contexts, different delivery modes, and mixed student cohorts to design quality learning experiences for all. To support this transition we developed a transnational curriculum design framework that synthesises knowledge about what impacts on curriculum design. This framework aims to help academic developers communicate complex educational concepts and foster international communities of practice. It guides cyclical implementation that is focused on achieving equivalent and quality educational outcomes for students regardless of their location across the globe.     

Reconsidering curriculum development: A framework for co-operation

Conventional approaches to curriculum development employed in western countries have proved to be unsatisfactory. Much of the literature as well as the practice of curriculum development have focussed on two traditional stances — the administrative and grass-roots models — and neither has been able to accommodate concurrently the theoretical and practical objectives, skills, and needs of central administrators, teachers, and curriculum specialists. In this paper, a brief examination of the characteristics, prevalence, benefits, and major shortcomings of these two models provides a basis for describing an approach that may better fulfil the multiple and competing demands of educational administrators and users. The article elaborates upon and defends a theoretical plan for involving administrators and educators in co-operative curriculum development, and specifies additional organizational requirements and constraints which would need to be dealt with in order to effect its intent.     

Framing the curriculum for participation: a Bernsteinian perspective on academic literacies

Academic writing is challenging, particularly for new undergraduates who can struggle to know what is expected of them. Research into Academic Literacies often presents academic literacy practices as a barrier to the academy, excluding those not familiar with and those not able to participate in those practices and positioning them permanently on the periphery of the academic community. In seeking to explore how curricula should be designed to counter exclusion, this paper brings three theoretical frameworks together: Academic Literacies; Communities of Practice; and Bernstein's conceptualisation of the classification and framing of knowledge. Together, they provide a multi-layered understanding of how students are positioned by academic literacy practices: Academic Literacies illuminates the ‘problem’; Communities of Practice provides an analytical perspective on the process of exclusion; and Bernstein's work offers pedagogical insights into how academic literacy practices can be reimagined as a bridge, rather than as a barrier, to the academic community.     

A framework for evaluating the doctoral curriculum

This paper proposes a framework for evaluating the doctoral curriculum. Noting that much previous research and evaluation in doctoral education have focused on the outputs of the degree or the supervisory process, the paper identifies the content of the training students receive in particular fields of study, the doctoral curriculum, as in need of further scrutiny. Based on concepts from curriculum evaluation, a framework is proposed to identify the research questions and data sources which might guide such a study.     

A framework for infusing multicultural curriculum into gifted education

Creative thinking can be encouraged in the intermediate grades by teaching specific skills that may be integrated into various subject areas.     

A framework for authenticity in designing a research-based curriculum

This conceptual paper is concerned with the discursive and applied attributes of ‘authenticity’ in higher education, with a particular focus on teaching science through student research. Authenticity has been mentioned in passing, claimed or discussed by scholars in relation to different aspects of higher education, including teaching, learning, assessment and achievement. However, it is our position that in spite of the growing appeal of authenticity, the use of the term is often vague and uncritical. The notion of authenticity is complex, has a range of meanings and is sometimes contested. Therefore, we propose here a practice-oriented and theoretically-informed framework for what constitutes authenticity within the context of teaching through research. This framework brings together aspects of the ‘real world,’ existential self, and embedded meaning, and aligns them with different outcomes relating to knowledge and to students. Different models of teaching through research with conflicting claims to authenticity are used to illustrate the framework.     

Using the BEM for curriculum design: A case study

Managers are often faulted for not managing performance; when performance issues surface, they first look to training as a possible solution. But without correctly identifying the cause of a performance problem, they can choose the wrong solution. The behavior engineering model (BEM) helps diagnose performance problems as well as engineer a supportive environment. When senior managers complained that others could not manage performance, one company used the BEM to design a management curriculum that addressed each cell in the model.     

A means of personalising learning: incorporating old and new literacies in the curriculum with mobile phones

This article explores a notion of ‘personalising learning’ which puts the learner at the centre, supported by mobile technology and teacher mediation. It reports a small study in the Northern Territory of Australia, with indigenous students who were given mobile camera phones to capture aspects of their everyday lives and bring them into school. It found that they created a range of narratives that linked their traditional literacies with ‘new literacies’. The article argues that, using tools like these, students can contribute to their curriculum. However, it raises issues of cultural differences between teachers and students, and the importance of developing critical literacy in conjunction with new communication forms and other new literacies. Finally it points to the important role of teachers in leading change in school cultures, and particularly assessment, that will allow these personal contributions to learners' curricula.     

A general framework for cultivating innovations in higher education curriculum

ABSTRACT

Systematic changes to higher education curriculum typically occur within the extended timeframes of formal curriculum review processes. Programmes need to be reviewed periodically for internal and external accountability or to determine whether the curriculum has lost its coherence due to the accumulative effect of continual small-scale changes. These programme reviews often lend themselves to the introduction of innovations in teaching and learning however experiences suggest that these innovations are often short-lived. Even with well-thought-through project plans, adequate funding and staffing, and robust project evaluations, a curriculum innovation may fail to take hold and continue beyond the short-term. In this article we work towards developing a general framework that identifies the various factors and drivers that are essential to sustain important curriculum innovation beyond the short-term. The framework is developed from an analysis of several curriculum innovations related to the embedding of graduate attributes to highlight the important factors necessary to ensure longevity in important developments in teaching and learning.     

Towards a framework for aligning learning outcomes,academic literacies and assessment criteria

Although Australian students spend three or more years studying they can seem quite unaware of any of the expected learning outcomes of their course. They are often single unit focused, paying most attention to individual assessment items thus not developing a holistic view of their course. This paper presents a theoretical framework to support staff and students to recognise, scaffold and achieve learning outcomes and academic skills at unit level and to recognise how these contribute to course and graduate learning outcomes, within the boundaries of Australian university and professional accreditation requirements. A case study is described that demonstrates the manual implementation of the framework. The complex nature of the implementation suggests that a software solution is required to ease the process and ensure the resulting mapping will have some longevity by being maintainable.     

Analytics for learning design: A layered framework and tools

The field of learning design studies how to support teachers in devising suitable activities for their students to learn. The field of learning analytics explores how data about students' interactions can be used to increase the understanding of learning experiences. Despite its clear synergy, there is only limited and fragmented work exploring the active role that data analytics can play in supporting design for learning. This paper builds on previous research to propose a framework (analytics layers for learning design) that articulates three layers of data analytics—learning analytics, design analytics and community analytics—to support informed decision-making in learning design. Additionally, a set of tools and experiences are described to illustrate how the different data analytics perspectives proposed by the framework can support learning design processes.     

学术计划——一个新的高校课程理论框架

高校课程理论框架的构建是高等教育研究中的一个难点,高等教育的自身特点是导致这一结果的重要原因。曾就职于美国"提高中学后教学与学习国家研究中心"的斯塔克(Stark,J.S.)教授在近10年研究的基础上,构建了一个较为全面、系统的高校课程理论分析框架。该框架把课程看作"学术计划",其核心包括八个构成要素,外部社会、高校组织层面及高校内部等三方面的因素则成为型塑高校课程的重要影响因素。     

Architectural design and the learning environment: A framework for school design research

This article develops a theoretical framework for studying how instructional space, teaching and learning are related in practice. It is argued that a school’s physical design can contribute to the quality of the learning environment, but several non-architectural factors also determine how well a given facility serves as a setting for teaching and learning. Supporting evidence for this argument is drawn from research on school climate and organisation, as well as from the author’s study of three open-plan high schools. Facilities design, educational practice, school culture, and student learning are found to be interrelated aspects of a school’s total learning environment.     

Conceptualising strategic alignment between curriculum and pedagogy through a learning design framework

Abstract

Improved clarity concerning the relationship between curriculum and pedagogy in higher education is needed to address issues concerning learning and teaching quality. This paper explores the relationship between curriculum and pedagogy and argues for a stronger and more explicit link between the two. On that basis, the paper proposes a conceptual learning design framework that has the potential to act as a clarifying tool for academic developers and academics as they conceptualise and develop contemporary learning environments for effective learning. Reflections on the implication of the framework for practice are discussed.     

Engaging students through new literacies: the good, bad and curriculum of visual essays

In this article, we share our experiences working with students to read and/or write visual essays, texts that rely more heavily on images with minimal print text. We explore how students consider elements of design as they create a visual essay, which entails new forms of semiotic processing of the combinations of the visual, audio, textual, gestural and spatial. In particular, we share a case study of how one adolescent engages with an alternative to the standard essay format when he is not restricted by the use of words alone, but is encouraged to tap into the affordances of digital media, expressing himself multimodally by using words, images and sound.